


Sina Turks

by Cherry



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Crossover, FFVII/Shingeki no Kyojin, Multi, why not?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2017-12-27 05:34:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/975034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherry/pseuds/Cherry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erwin and Levi are not best pleased when a special ops unit from the Turks division of the military police is assigned to the Survey Corps. The Turks have an undisclosed agenda somehow related to the royal family. For Reno and Levi this mission brings back memories of a past they both thought they'd left behind. </p><p>There will probably be other pairings as the story continues. Making it up as I go along, as usual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Commander Erwin Smith regarded the newcomers out of calm blue eyes, giving away nothing of the irritation he felt. Captain Levi leaned against the wall, looking bored.

"So, you're the special unit we were told to expect?" Erwin asked the four operatives in his office.

"We are." The oldest of the four, a strikingly attractive man with dark, intelligent eyes and long black hair, stepped forward and offered Erwin his hand. "I'm Tseng. Turks, First Division."

Erwin shook the proffered hand. "Erwin Smith. This is my second, Captain Levi."

Levi nodded, but said nothing and didn't move.

"My second, Reno," Tseng said, indicating a lanky, unkempt man with ridiculous dyed red hair; "Rude," – an impeccably turned-out wall of muscle who stood nearly as tall as Erwin – "and Elena." A slight, blonde woman with large brown eyes, Elena was the only one of the four who smiled.

"You're officially with the Military Police?" Erwin asked.

"Officially," Tseng replied. "We're assigned to protect the interests of the royal family."

"And you're all trained in 3D gear?"

"Naturally."

"Get to use it much, safe inside Sina?" Captain Levi asked.

"On occasion. It does have other applications, aside from killing titans," Tseng replied, unruffled.

"So," Levi said, pushing off from the wall and focusing his intense gaze on Tseng, "assuming you're not all noble volunteers doing this for the sake of humanity, who did you piss off to get this gig?"

Erwin glanced at Levi, but said nothing, curious as to what Tseng's response would be.

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say. For your purposes, we're simply new recruits, to be employed as you see fit."

Levi scoffed. "What – we're supposed to accept you into our ranks knowing you have some undisclosed agenda? No fucking way."

"Levi, enough." Erwin looked at Tseng thoughtfully. "We all have our orders. You'll be subject to my command as long as you're here. My absolute command."

"Of course," Tseng replied. "We will serve the Survey Corps as any other recruits would."

It was Captain Levi who replied. "Huh. We'll see about that. Get down to the barracks and kit up. Be on the training ground in fifteen minutes. I want to find out what I'm working with." His tone was neutral, but his eyes were cold. Once the Turks had left the room, Levi shut the door and turned to Erwin. "This is stupid! You know what those people are? Spies – assassins. Putting them in our uniform doesn't change that. As if we don't have enough trouble with those inner wall bastards as it is!"

"This order comes from the top," Erwin said. "We don't have a choice. Treat them as normal recruits."

"Bet they can't fly for shit," Levi said. "If they can't, they're on latrine duty. See how they like the reality of life outside Sina."

"Treat them as _any other_ recruits," Erwin insisted. "If you make your dislike obvious the others will suspect something."

"Of course. I'm not an idiot. It's just – something's not right. Doesn't smell right, as Mike would say. And that red-haired freak…"

"Reno? What about him?"

"I'm not sure. Reminds me of someone." Levi shook his head. "Maybe nothing. Let's see if any of them can use the gear."

x

"Levi," Reno said, as he bucked the chest strap of the harness, "might remember me."

Tseng looked up sharply. "You've met before?"

"Yeah – _met_ … Must be nine, ten years ago. Shouldn't affect the mission, even if he does remember. Those were - different lives."

Elena had already finished putting on her gear. Glancing around the bare locker room to make sure they were alone, she said, "Wonder how he's getting on?"

"Don't discuss it, even if you think we can't be overheard," Tseng warned her. "Not indoors. We only talk about the mission in the open, when there's no one else nearby."

"Yes, I know. Must be strange though – to come from the palace to –"

"Elena!" Rude reprimanded.

"Sorry. I guess I'm nervous. I've only done this in training."

"You'll be fine," Reno told her. "Won't be nothin' we ain't done before. You saw their training ground as we came in – it'll be a cinch."

"For you," said Rude, who had always preferred to keep his feet on the ground.

Reno couldn't help grinning. "Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah – can't wait. This whole mission will be worth it if we get a chance to go outside…"

"There are Titans outside," Tseng reminded him.

"Always wanted to go out there, though, you know?" Reno replied, undeterred. "Can you imagine – somewhere without walls? I heard there are whole forests of huge trees. You could fly for hours!"

"Ugh, yes," Elena shuddered, "and straight into a Titan's mouth. The best thing about being in Sina is staying as far away from the edge as possible."

"Better stop talkin' like that if you wanna convince anyone you volunteered for the Survey Corps," Reno said.

"Why would anyone volunteer for the Survey Corps? You know the survival rates! Those volunteers must have a death wish or something," Elena said.

"I volunteered, actually," Tseng told her. "But I came first in my class, and Commander Veld had me transferred into the Turks."

"And I would've, but Veld was the one who sent me for training in the first place," Reno said. "I only got training on the understanding I was joining the Turks at the end of it."

Elena stared at them both. "But – why?"

"It seemed the most challenging choice," Tseng replied.

"Wanted to get outside the walls," Reno said.

"You're both crazy! And what about you, Rude?"

"I was already in the Military Police when Veld recruited me. I'm not built to be good with the gear. I'm a hand-to-hand sort of fighter."

"Ready?" Tseng asked. "Remember – we're just ordinary recruits. Follow orders."

"Why you lookin' at me, Boss?" Reno asked, doing a good impression of innocent incomprehension.

x

When the four Turks reached the training ground, Commander Erwin and Captain Levi were already there. Levi, in full 3D gear, waited with his arms folded over his chest and an impatient frown until the Turks reached him.

Reno looked up through tree branches to the top of a high wooden training target shaped like a seven metre class Titan. "That don't look so tricky," he said.

"Of course not. Those are for rookies. You're supposed to be some kind of special ops unit, aren't you?"

"So what do we do?" Reno asked, unfazed by the Captain's brusque manner.

Levi gave him a cool smile. "Try to keep up," he said. Then he was gone, streaking ahead through the tall trees that surrounded the training ground.

"Damn it!" Reno wasted no more time, off the ground and in pursuit before the others could react. Tseng followed swiftly, then Elena. Rude sighed, but anchored his lines to the nearest pair of tree trunks and kicked off hard. The motion always made him feel a little queasy even after his thorough training. He hoped that the royal brat would appreciate it when he found out what they were doing to keep his precious ass safe, but he doubted it.

x

Reno was thoroughly enjoying himself. He loved flying. This Captain Levi was a tricky bastard to catch though – the kinds of sudden, tight turns he could make were next to impossible for someone of Reno's height to imitate. But what Reno lacked in manoeuvrability he made up for in the speed of his reactions, and he was just about managing to keep the Captain in sight. Risking a backwards glance he saw Tseng following a little way behind. There was no sign of Elena or Rude.

Judging by how far they'd already come, Reno knew he'd have to be careful not to run out of gas. Using the gear successfully was as much about conservation of energy and the efficient use of momentum as it was to do with strength and balance. It had been a long time since he'd had the opportunity to fly for any extended period of time, and his muscles were already screaming, but exhilaration and adrenaline kept him going. Now he started to plan ahead, avoiding some of the Captain's zigzags in favour of guessing his planned trajectories. It was risky – one serious miscalculation could be enough to let Levi increase his lead beyond visibility – but it allowed Reno to execute long flights that were much more energy efficient than constant changes of direction would have been.

Ahead and off to the right, Reno saw a wooden platform half hidden behind a stand of tall pine trees. Levi anchored a line in the tallest of the pines and completed a beautiful one-hundred and eighty degree upwards arc, swinging around the tree and up over the platform, releasing his line and spinning in midair to land perfectly, facing Reno.

"Showoff," Reno muttered, taking careful aim, and managing to fire his grapple to within a foot of where Levi's had been. Using his momentum to follow the same upward arc was no easy feat. Levi was a lot smaller than Reno, and Reno was forced to retract the line frantically to stop himself overshooting, releasing just in time to make an aesthetically dubious but safe landing on the platform. Reno tried and failed to hide the fact that he was almost out of breath. Everything ached. Shit, he'd forgotten how hard this was!

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Not as bad as I expected. You can fly."

"Not like you," Reno conceded. "I thought I was in shape!"

"Tch. For Sina, maybe." Levi looked closely at the red lines on Reno's cheekbones. "Tattoos over scars…" he began, but at that moment Tseng joined them on the platform, approaching in a straight line without flourishes, but landing proficiently.

"And that's two," Levi said. "You pass. But you were following him, not me. You would have lost me, on your own."

"I can't deny that," said Tseng. "Perhaps our training needs to be more rigorous."

Levi didn't seem to feel the need to reply to that, or to make any attempt to fill the subsequent silence. Reno asked, "So – you must've killed a lot of Titans, right?"

"Yes."

"So, you gonna test us on that, too?"

"You can practise on the training dummies if you want. But we have no effective way of simulating using the gear on moving targets. The only real way to practise killing Titans is to kill Titans. That's why our casualty rate among new recruits is so high; there's no way to prepare them for the terror. People freeze, or try to run." Tseng had walked over to the edge of the platform and was gazing back the way they'd come, trying to catch sight of Elena or Rude. Levi took a step closer to Reno and lowered his voice. "But you're not afraid to die, are you, _Crow_?"

Reno looked into Levi's eyes. "Huh. Thought you'd remember."

Levi's expression was unreadable and his tone completely even when he replied, "You spat in my face and told me to 'use the money to buy a fucking ladder'."

" _That's_ why you cut me?"

"That's why I let you live." Levi turned away and joined Tseng at the edge of the platform, leaving Reno looking after him thoughtfully. There was no movement among the trees. "Still waiting for your friends," Levi said. "I wonder whether they'll –"

All three men on the platform looked down as the thunk of grapples embedding themselves in wood reverberated under their feet. They heard the whir of retracting lines, and a few moments later Elena pulled herself over the edge of the platform, panting and red-faced. "Had to run the last mile," she explained. "Got a little lost half way. Almost out of gas. When I spotted the platform I thought I'd better conserve the rest to get up here."

"Works on a training run like this," Captain Levi said. "Beyond the wall you'd be Titan food in minutes. But your strategy was effective. Did you see the other one – Rudi was it?"

"Rude. No. He was behind me until I got lost."

"Likely out of gas. We should go. There's a storage locker at the base of this tree. Refill there." Levi put one hand on the planks of the platform, swung himself gracefully over the edge, and shot one grapple upwards into the underside, descending rapidly on the single wire."

"Too fuckin' good," Reno said, shaking his head. "But he always was, yo."

Tseng glanced at him. "I take it he remembered you?"

"Yeah. He remembered…" Reno looked at Elena. "Told you you'd be fine, Rookie. You got enough gas to get down?"

"Yes. Down hardly takes any power. I'll be fine."

"Right."

The three Turks reached the ground with varying degrees of style. Reno managed to look relatively casual about it, aware that Levi was watching him. They were all in the process of refuelling when Rude came running through the trees. He looked at Tseng. "Sorry, Boss. Ran out of gas, and had to track you here. I guess I'm out of practice at this."

Levi looked up at him. "Hey – who're you calling 'Boss'? I'm in charge here, and it's _Captain_."

Rude's eyes moved back to Tseng before he caught himself. "Yes, Captain. My apologies."

"You'll need to carry extra gas. It's a matter of body size. You must have passed basic training?"

"Yes – third in the class, Sir. But mostly for hand-to-hand."

"Hm. I can see why. Well – you'd have a better shot at punching a Titan than most, although I wouldn't recommend trying it. But if you want to stay with us you're just going to have to get more practice than the others. It's not impossible; Commander Erwin's pretty big, and he learned to use the gear better than almost anyone. And Mike might even be bigger than you." Levi looked around at the other Turks. "People are adaptable. That's our only edge over the titans - we can think and adapt. Resupply, and make your way back to base. If you can remember the way." Then he was gone, flying through the trees so fast that Reno whistled. "He was holding back before. Fuck!" He gave Tseng a rueful grin. "Well – that showed us, huh?"

"Yes, that was certainly a lesson. Well – I always suspected that the Queen's motivation was to remove us from the picture, whatever the King's. We'd better get going. It looks as though we've got a lot of work to do if we want to have a hope in hell of keeping Prince Rufus alive."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Originally this was going to be set after chapter 51 of the manga, but given recent events, I've changed the timeline to start in 847. Rufus joins the 100th training squad in their third year of training. This story will take place between 847 and 850. 
> 
> Rod is the "Before Crisis" Turk Rod, and Nina is Martial Arts Female. 
> 
> What's going on? I'm a bit clearer than I was, but still making it up as I go along.

Rufus opened his eyes to bright sunlight and wondered where on earth his valet had got to, before he remembered. The hard, narrow bed made him think longingly of his goose-feather mattress at home, and the trainee in the top bunk had an irritating habit of rolling over heavily throughout the night, exhaling deep sighs, and making the wooden bed frame creak and sway alarmingly.

Rufus consoled himself with the thought that it must be rather like being on a ship on the open sea, and imagined himself as the sailor in his favourite story from one of the books that only the royal children were permitted to read. He had spent many hours during his childhood thinking about the Forbidden Stories and speculating about the world beyond the walls. But that had been before his mother’s death – before the new queen had all such books removed on the grounds that they were heretical.

Looking back, Rufus supposed that was probably what first planted the idea of rebellion in his mind, even before he’d realised that the new queen would stop at nothing to promote the interests of her son, Lazard, and Rufus had suddenly found himself having to worry about whether the answer to the question of who should be considered the next heir to the throne was quite so apparent as he’d always believed it to be.

“Oi, Sina boy, shift your arse!” That would be the tall, dark-haired trainee. Johan Amsel – that was it. Rufus had always been quick to learn names, and he knew he’d better be just as quick to make a few allies too, if he didn’t want this punishment of his father’s to become more unpleasant than it needed to be. He sighed quietly, swinging his legs out of the bunk and heading for the communal washroom. The story was that he was the third son of a Military Policeman, married to a minor noblewoman, raised in relative luxury inside Sina, but with a vocation to fight titans. He’d borrowed his father’s gear and practised hard. His parents had tried to talk him out of joining up, but had eventually relented when they realised they couldn’t change his mind. He’d been placed with the third year trainees because he could already use the gear, which was the main focus of most of the first two years’ training.

“How come you’re joining half way through the year?” asked a flame-haired boy who introduced himself as Rod Brandt. “Didn’t know that was allowed.”

“I just want to get out there and fight titans as soon as possible!” Rufus declared, forcing himself not to roll his eyes. Keeping up this level of impassioned fervour was difficult when Rufus’ private opinion was that anyone who actually wanted to fight titans must be bordering on insane. “As soon as my parents finally agreed to let me join up, I went to the nearest barracks and signed the papers! At basic training they decided I should be moved into the third year straight away.”

“And you plan to join the Survey Corps?” Rod said, wincing as he splashed icy water from the basin in front of him onto his face. “You must be brave. And a few litres short of a full cylinder, if you ask me. Have you ever seen a titan?”

“Once. From Wall Maria, before it fell. I was just a kid, so maybe it looked bigger than it was, but, yes, it was huge.”

“I grew up in Shiganshina. I saw a titan when I was thirteen. Believe me, they don’t look any smaller from the ground.”

“So you’re not intending to join the Survey Corps?”

“Nope. Military Police for me. You can really make something of yourself in the Unicorns.”

“Haven’t you ever wanted to see the lands beyond the walls?” Rufus asked, not having to feign enthusiasm this time. If there was one reason he _could_ understand for anyone wanting to join the Survey Corps, it was that.

“Yeah – when they’re free of titans, sure,” Rod laughed. “Tell you what – when you and your buddies in the Wings have finished them off, let me know, and I’ll come have a look.”

“So – you’re expecting to finish in the top ten, then?” Rufus asked.

“Yep. I’ve been keeping score. I’m in the top three, I know that much. Along with Amsel over there, who reckons himself some kind of second Captain Levi in the making, and that tall girl with the long hair – Nina Ritter.”

“Nina Ritter. I haven’t met her yet.”

“Just keep out of her way in hand-to-hand training – unless you like spending a lot of time on your arse. She’s good.”

“Then I should try to train with her, shouldn’t I?” Rufus asked. “If I want to improve?”

Rod looked at him and raised his eyebrows, which, Rufus noticed, were almost as red as his hair. “If you like. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. She must have at least thirty centimetres on you, though.”

“Well,” Rufus shrugged, “the titans are quite a lot bigger than that.”

Rod shook his head, but he smiled, too. “You really want to kill titans, don’t you? Crazy. But it’s good to have some new blood. C’mon – let’s get to breakfast before all the hot stuff goes.”

Rufus followed Rod to the mess, surprised to find that he was having fun. Of course, he didn’t believe that his father would allow him to go out of the walls into any actual danger, whatever he’d said in his fury over that stupid incident with Lazard. This was a punishment, and, although Rufus was still angry with his father, it was the queen he really hated. No, Rufus was quite certain that, once he’d graduated and officially made his decision to join the Survey Corps, his father would send someone to recall him to the palace. The King was hardly likely to allow his one true heir to be eaten by a titan! For all her beauty and her apparent influence over the king, the queen didn’t have that kind of power. Did she?

Rufus pushed his worries to the back of his mind. He wouldn’t be fifteen for another six months. Anything could happen in half a year. For now, he was rather enjoying making friends with people his own age, in a place where no one felt obliged to treat him differently just because he was a prince.

x

Reno couldn’t remember when he’d ever felt so stiff – and not in a good way, either. He’d been training hard for the last week, determined that the next time he saw that little shit Levi, he’d be able to give him more of a run for his money. If only it was a question of running. Reno almost laughed when he thought about taking on Levi on the ground. His smile faded though, when he remembered that he’d already done that once – not in a race, true, but in a fair fight – and Levi had left him close to death, despite the difference in their heights.

Tseng lay down heavily on the bunk next to him.

“You look beat, Boss,” Reno observed.

“Thanks. I feel it. They don’t fuck about in the Survey Corps, do they?”

“Nope. It’s Rude I feel sorry for. Bigger you are, the more those straps bruise.” Reno stretched, joints cracking. Tseng winced.

“Where’s everyone else?” Reno asked.

“Rude and Elena, still training. The rest of them, I don’t know. Probably something Smith doesn’t want us to know about.”

“Smith. Yeah – I dunno. What’s the story there?”

“He’s an excellent strategist. There’s some talk at court about various deals he struck to get enough funding for expeditions outside the walls. A lot of prominent members of the court dispute the need for the Survey Corps’ continued existence. As far as I know, Erwin’s loyal to the king, but don’t underestimate him, and don’t give away any information. No one knows the identity of the latest trainee, and it needs to stay that way.”

“Yeah, got it.”

“What’s your history with Levi? Why don’t we have it on file?”

Reno looked at Tseng, and for a moment Tseng thought he was going to refuse to talk about his past, but Reno sat up with a sigh, resting his elbows on his knees. “It happened before I moved out of the underground. Levi was a big noise even then. Walked into town, seems, out of fuck knows where, and moved in on just about everything. People challenged him, he won. Didn’t even seem to have a plan.”

“So he wasn’t born in the underground city?”

“Rumour says not.” Reno shrugged. “Who knows? After a while they started calling him Fox.”

Tseng sat up and looked at Reno. “Fox?”

“Yeah. He was a thief, first. Could get in anywhere. That’s how he got the name – stole all the hens from some duke’s hencoop one night, for the hell of it. Apparently one of his friends told him they’d never tasted chicken. People said there was nothing he couldn’t steal. If he wanted something of yours, they said, you’d save yourself time and trouble just handing it over. But he never actually took much. Enough for him and his friends to survive. Few things on commission – but those were about establishing a reputation as much as for the money. But the more his reputation grew, the more people challenged him. Guess I thought I was kind of a big shot then, although, looking back – nah, not so much. I was seventeen – he was – what – early twenties? I was a hot-headed idiot with something to prove, in charge of this shitty group of street rats. We reckoned we were a gang – all called after birds, don’t ask me why.” Reno smiled, his eyes distant, remembering. “I was Crow.” He shook his head with a derisive laugh. “ _Crow!_ Anyway, I was bragging, like you had to, letting him know I was on for it if he wasn’t too scared, generally shooting my dumb mouth off. One day he took me up on it, that’s all. I made a good fight of it, an’ that’s the best I can say.”

Reno ran one finger along one of the curved red tattoos that decorated his cheekbones. “He gave me the scars under these, and I knew I was lucky. Learned a lesson, and moved on. I set up again topside. It was harder to avoid the Unicorns, but there wasn’t so much fighting over turf. That’s when I started to get a reputation of my own, and that’s when Veld found me. Last I heard of Levi, he was more or less the only player underside, and he’d moved on from just stealing, too. Then he disappeared, along with two of his gang.”

“Fox,” Tseng said, thoughtfully. “When we started keeping tabs on –” Tseng lowered his voice, “on Rufus, he was trying to contact someone called Fox. We think his intention was to have Lazard assassinated. When he failed to make contact, he decided to take matters into his own hands.”

“Yeah, figures,” Reno agreed.  “I heard stories that Levi had started taking on that kind of work.”

“Why didn’t Levi kill you?” Tseng asked.

“I was young. I was a cocky bastard, even after he kicked me half to death. He saw I wasn’t scared. I guess that’s why.”

“You weren’t scared?”

“Well – wasn’t showing it.”

“You admire him.”

“Yeah. Always wondered why Veld never went after Levi.”

“Perhaps he did. Or perhaps Erwin got to him first. You could ask him – Levi, I mean.”

Reno’s smile was disturbing. “Yeah… Yeah, I might do that…”

“Reno,” Tseng warned.

“What?”

“Don’t – complicate things.”

“Me, Boss? When was I ever complicated?”

“You know what I’m saying. And get out of the habit of calling me Boss. Erwin’s your boss, for the time being. And Levi.”

“Huh. Erwin, yeah, okay. Levi... Guess we’ll see.”

x

“Nile’s never heard of them, has he?” Levi asked.

Erwin crossed the office and closed the door firmly. “Nile isn’t directly connected with that branch of the Military Police. But he had some information. It seems you were right about our four – the king has already employed at least one replacement, probably more. I don’t know what they’ve done, but they’re certainly not expected to return to Sina any time soon. How fit are they for active service?”

Levi snorted. “Fitter than some of the new recruits we get, but not much more. Tseng’s not bad. Rude isn’t built to fly, but he’s strong. Elena’s keen, I’ll give her that. She has some talent, but not enough training. Reno… Tch. Reno hasn’t changed much. He can fly. Could be useful, if he comes through the first couple of outings. You know how it goes.”

“You think Reno was recruited straight from the streets into the Turks?”

“Yeah. He was causing the MPs enough trouble in Sina, they had to do something.” Levi smiled briefly. “Like you did, with me. I assume the Turks look for a certain skill set – Reno would’ve been a perfect fit.”

“But you beat Reno. From what you’ve told me, you effectively made it impossible for him to remain in the underground.”

“Yeah. So?”

“So why didn’t the Turks try to recruit you?”

“Who says they didn’t? I’m good at disappearing. And you know my opinion of the Unicorns. Even their best isn’t a match for the Survey Corps.”

“I’m glad you agreed to join us, then.”

“Not as though you gave me much choice about that. Not at first, anyway.” Levi frowned, perching on the edge of Erwin’s desk. “You don’t think they’re here for us, do you?”

“I’m not sure. We certainly still have plenty of enemies at court. I don’t like the way this Wall Cult is gaining influence since the fall. But I have to believe the king when he says he supports our mission to retake Wall Maria. Even our most ardent opponents get twitchy when they think about the fact that there are only two walls between them and the titans now. If a major faction wanted us dead, I think they’d send more subtle assassins.” Erwin smiled. “Someone more like you.”

 Levi shot him a darkly amused look, but didn’t reply to that.

“I think it’s more likely that the king – or equally likely the queen – wants the four of them out of the way, either for the time being, or permanently,” Erwin added.

Levi’s expression hardened at that. “I’m not playing executioner for the palace. No way!” He hesitated, before adding, “Didn’t we have enough of that a year ago?”

Erwin’s face betrayed nothing, but he inhaled sharply. “I’ve already told you,” he said, “we treat them as any other recruits. We don’t give them any special protection, and we don’t expose them to any unusual risks. They’re normal Survey Corps soldiers now.”

“Yeah, got it,” Levi replied, but his expression lost none of its cynicism. “So they take part in the next supply mission?”

“If you think they’re up to standard, then yes.”

“Huh. Wonder how they’ll cope? I suppose they think they’re some kind of big-shots inside Sina, doing the king’s dirty work. Nothing like a date with the titans to cut people like that down to size.”

“As long as it’s not relevant to the Survey Corps, I really don’t have time to care what the King and Queen are playing at,” Erwin replied. “We need all the recruits we can get, and these Turks give us four more. Think of it that way.”

“Yeah,” Levi agreed, with a sharp, decisive nod. “Yeah, you’re right, Erwin. Additional numbers – that’s all they need to be.”  


End file.
